Various arrangements are used to make drinking water available to confined animals in response to licking, nudging, pushing or similar action. As compared with, for example, simply leaving water in a bowl, such “on-demand” water feeding systems can, among other things, ensure that the drinking water is clean, and also enable delivery of antibiotics, vitamins, and other nutrients or additives or supplements mixed in the drinking water.
One type of simple water feeding system for animals involves use of a water bottle with a drinking tube. The bottle is positioned upside-down so that the drinking tube extends from the bottom of the bottle and drinking water in the bottle is gravity-feed to the drinking tube. The drinking tube may rely on capillary action to prevent excessive dripping when an animal is not drinking from the tube, or the drinking tube may include a “valve” which may rely on the weight of the water in the bottle to keep the valve normally closed when an animal is not drinking from the tube, such as is the case with a commonly implemented ball in a chamfered end of a drinking tube.
Automatic water feeding systems are also used to make drinking water available to confined animals. In such systems, a water supply line provides a continuous, often low-pressure, supply of water to a drinking valve, and licking, nudging, pushing or similar action at an outlet “opens” the drinking valve and allows water to flow through the valve and to the outlet so the water is then available to the animal for drinking. For ease of use and cleanliness, such drinking valves should open easily when the animal desires a drink, and automatically close tightly when the animal is finished drinking to prevent significant leaking of water into the animal's confined area.
There is an ever-present need for a new and improved drinking valve for automatic water feeding systems for animals, wherein the drinking valve is uniquely configured with simple construction to open easily when an animal desires a drink and which will automatically close tightly when the animal is finished drinking.